Matthew 5:12

Steven Craig Miller scmiller at www.plantnet.com
Wed Dec 1 19:08:03 EST 1999


Brian Swedburg wrote:

<<  What about a hendiadys?  Using the two words connected by the 'kai' to 
refer to one thing, ie... "gladly rejoice!" >>

All the examples of hendiadys in BDF and Smyth are those of substantives 
connected by KAI, are there (other) examples of hendiadys with Greek verbs? 
I also noticed that of the six examples of hendiadys quoted in BDF 
(442.16), the NRSV only accepted one of them as a hendiadys (at Acts 23:6). 
And C. K. Barrett, in his commentary on Acts, comments on Acts 23:6 saying: 
"The line of argument is not greatly altered if 'hope' and 'resurrection' 
are distinguished."

Does an hendiadys merely mark a non-literal translation? Or is hendiadys a 
real grammatical phenomenon of the Greek language? Or is it perhaps a 
little of both?

-Steven Craig Miller
Alton, Illinois (USA)
scmiller at www.plantnet.com

"Words are like people. To know them well one must meet them on their own 
level, in their own environment. In different circumstances they react 
differently. Like a face they take on varying expressions. Some of them 
move from place to place; some never return to their earlier familiar 
surroundings. But to know their past is to know a little better what makes 
them act as they do in the present" (Frederick W. Danker, "Multipurpose 
Tools for Bible Study," 1993:135).




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